The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 05/09/2011
A Chinese national sustained injuries after being assaulted by immigration officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for allegedly refusing to pay a bribe to officers.
Cheung Ho Chung, who arrived from Hong Kong on a China Airlines flight, refused to give two officers from the airport’s Immigration Office HK$100 that they demanded.
The Jakarta Police said Cheung arrived at 2:53 p.m. Friday and was waiting to get his passport stamped when an officer in charge asked him and other passengers for money.
“Seeing that the officer wanted arriving passengers to pay a bribe, Cheung set aside HK$20. But the officer refused and wanted him to pay HK$100. The officer said it was money for tea,” police said in statement issued Sunday.
Cheung, a resident of Hong Kong said he would not pay the amount sought and officers attempted to take him away to a private room.
He refused to follow the officers who began to attack him.
“Two immigration officers ganged up on him, hit him in the face and choked him. He had a cut lip and a bruise on the neck,” police said.
The Immigration office, however, has a different account of the scuffle.
Directorate general of immigration spokesman Bambang Catur Puspitowarno said Cheung had been out of line.
He claimed Cheung had not filled out his arrival form when he stood in line at the arrival desk.
“The immigration officer also spotted the HK$20 enclosed in Cheung’s passport. He returned it and asked him to complete his arrival form,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Bambang added that the officer asked him to fill out the arrival form in another room to stop holding up the long line at the immigration counter.
“However, he didn’t go to the room downstairs, he headed instead for the exit. Our officers stopped him and asked him again to complete his form,” he said.
Cheung began to get angry, screaming at officers, insulting them by saying that HK$20 was apparently not enough, Bambang said, adding that officers isolated him to calm him down.
Bambang dismissed the injuries Cheung sustained as self-inflicted.
“He was trying to take photos, which is strictly prohibited. The officers grabbed him to stop him, maybe the camera hit his face,” he said.
Bambang also denied the police statement that immigration officers attempted to seek a bribe.
“There was no such bribe. Our officers never asked for money from passengers or engaged in acts of violence,” he said.
Bambang claimed Cheung was probably upset so he filed a report with airport police after filling out his arrival form.
The immigration office is perceived as one of the most corrupt government institution in the country, with numerous officials implicated in graft cases.
In January, Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar suspended 27 immigration officers
following revelations that they issued a passport to graft convict Gayus H. Tambunan under an assumed name.
Later that month, Patrialis appointed Bambang Irawan as the new director general of immigration, with a mandate to combat corruption in the institution.
Patrialis said during the inauguration ceremony that the immigration office was seen as a traditional safe haven for corrupt officials.
di 10 mei 2011 - 7:01
